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Fri 22 May 2015 | 04:54
Friday Funnies - Henry Seniloli's premature showboating costs Treviso a try

23
Comments

A little bit of showmanship can be harmless, but on occassion it puts you in a position to really end up with egg on your face. This is what happened with Treviso's Henry Seniloli last weekend, and his finger pointing try celebration came a little early against the Scarlets.

The Fiji capped number nine was on the way to finishing an excellent team try, but just seconds after doing a Delon Armitage/George North point at Scott Williams, he was held up, lost the ball and injured himself in the process. Ouch. And the injury probably hurt too.

It was a great effort from Williams to stop the try, but Seniloli's shameless showboating was to blame, and it was a gaff that arguably cost his side the game.

They were leading 13-3 at the time, but went down 17-13 in the end. You can view highlights from the match, and all the others, in our PRO12 highlights wrap from Round 22.

It's not the first time we've seen players showboating then mess up, and it definitely won't be the last. See our related posts for a list of some of the worst (or best to watch?) over the years.

credit: Observatoire Béarnais

Posted By: Grant Constable

23 Comments

  • bloblabli
    5:38 PM 02/06/2015

    there is also the fact that Thorne retaliates to some shits. Smith got what he desserved. But in the latu/skelton case they just keep lifting Whitelock way after the whistle for no reasons.

  • rugbydump
    4:45 PM 27/05/2015

    Thanks Stroudos ;)

  • katman
    4:02 PM 26/05/2015

    Ha ha, that's funny.

    On the Fleck blind-spot tackle - I agree - he was pretty easy to dislike. Also, you won't find a more down-to-earth bloke than Deon Kayser. So poetic justice all round.

  • stroudos
    3:58 PM 26/05/2015

    A beauty. Available on the related videos above, by the way - http://www.rugbydump.com/2008/01/298/friday-funnies-deon-kayser-chases-down-robbie-fleck

  • stroudos
    3:56 PM 26/05/2015

    Ha! Nice one.

    Actually your Fleck video is more enjoyable, as Fleck was always so easy to dislike so it's easier to take pleasure in his misfortune!

    I've always been quite a fan of Carling. Having said that, apparently many of his contemporaries didn't quite feel the same way - I heard one story that he once got a good shoeing at a ruck (when rucking was still allowed), got up and started moaning at the ref, demanding "did you see who did that?" - before the ref could answer one of Carling's own team-mates said "it could have been any of 29 blokes to be fair".

  • stroudos
    3:49 PM 26/05/2015

    DrG - your choice of video was almost prescient as it would be better suited to the Skelton/Latu incident!

    It's interesting for me because I find myself mildly outraged by the Skelton/Latu one, but I remember watching this (Thorn) one at the time and my only reaction, other than laughing, was to think how impressive it was that he could so casually lift and chuck about a bloke of Smit's weight...

    Clearly the application of the laws has changed - in 2008 just a penalty "reversal" (that was already going SA's way anyway...); in 2015 retrospective red cards and 2-4 week bans. But I find my attitude towards these incidents has also shifted the same way - if Thorn got away with a penalty for that now I'd be very surprised indeed. Maybe I've been eating too much cous-cous.

  • katman
    1:44 PM 26/05/2015

    Upon reflection, I think you'll agree that Carling did get a little carried away here.

  • stroudos
    9:58 AM 26/05/2015

    Larry, as you allude to further up the page, what Carling did here was about as showboaty as it got in those days.

  • katman
    8:21 PM 25/05/2015

    Ha, what a complete tool.

    Reminds me a bit of Robbie Fleck back in the day: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5MJoEuhHZw

  • larry
    5:19 PM 24/05/2015

    Similar? I'm not sure about that. Carling didn't do any showboating, but just happened to be caught in two minds, as though he wanted to get closer to the posts and misjudged just how close an opposition player was nearby to tackle him before he could ground the ball.
    Not that I scored many tries in my day of playing, but at least on one occasion, despite having some time to run closer to the posts, I fell and grounded the ball right after crossing the goal line. I always figured why take a chance that someone is right behind close enough to make a tackle and perhaps knock the ball out of my hands. Four or five points was better than no points. And just about any other try I ever scored I was either being tackled as a crossed over the goal line or the opposition was closing in so that it was mandatory to ground the ball immediately.

  • finedisregard
    4:23 PM 24/05/2015

    I agree it's a punk move. How about a verbal warning from the referee and get on with the game?

    Just because you cite players it doesn't mean that undesirable behavior will go away. Look at the mess with tackles and inconsistent citing commissions.

    In rugby there is going to be some off the ball bs. Maybe we should kick players off the field for only really egregious and dangerous play?

  • heavyhooker
    10:05 PM 23/05/2015

    Slamming a players head multiple times like that is a crap maneuver. I am with DrG, cite for a few games and get rid of this stuff. Old school was just a simple head much to the dirt, this though is taking it to a new level of malice

  • stroudos
    9:42 PM 23/05/2015

    Meant to say notable by its absence and very similar to this one.

  • stroudos
    9:41 PM 23/05/2015

    Notable by its absence in the bombed tries archive above is this vintage beauty by Will Carling. Had everything: should have been an awesome try, unnecessary showboating and utter, abject humiliation! And if that's not enough you even have the voice of rugby, Bill McLaren too.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03gpzFZadcQ


  • larry
    6:10 PM 23/05/2015

    Well, what do you expect in the modern game? First, they're getting paid to play now for nearly 20 years, and they are corporate advertisements masquerading on the pitch as rugby players.

  • larry
    6:07 PM 23/05/2015

    Unfortunately, it was so "professional." In other words, before professionalism, when the game was semi-professional and/or amateur, showboating was neither seen nor tolerated.

  • drg
    1:28 PM 23/05/2015

    I mean, I get that whole pushing on someones head to rile them up, it's not pleasant, it provokes a reaction, but I guess for me, it falls into the 'dark arts' sort of category... but this particular incident as with the recent one that resulted in a red, are too far. I'm not sure if I feel they're red card worthy, perhaps it needs to be on an incident by incident basis, but I certainly think sometimes they get taken too far.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDX-8w91pnU - Quality is crap, but this is Brad Thorn - John Smit incident.. again, personally I think the referee handled it brilliantly, but it was just an example of that silly little head push that I don't have a huge problem with.. (but enjoy Thorns reaction to it!)

  • finedisregard
    1:25 PM 23/05/2015

    Cited for what, being a jerk? Not cool but that doesn't equal a citing.

    You can't red card your way into a game that is 100% clean and only played with smiling faces and good attitudes.

  • jimmy23
    3:10 AM 23/05/2015

    That must have felt so satisfying for Williams

  • browner
    11:37 PM 22/05/2015

    Well spotted, should be cited, rid the game of such crap
    ( even if showboatidiotnumpty almost deserved it!)

  • drg
    10:19 PM 22/05/2015

    That was awful, I bet everything including his pride hurt there..

    Brilliant try saving tackle.. on a sour note though:

    Keep watching Scott Williams at about 1:27 onwards... Didn't we just see a player red carded for 'slamming another players head into the turf'? - Not really a big deal from Williams, but certainly not necessary...

  • reality
    7:48 PM 22/05/2015

    If I was the Treviso management I would actually get rid of him just for this. Absolutely unforgivable. So unprofessional.

  • 6:32 PM 22/05/2015

    I just love when these guys get their comeuppances

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